ENG 4983 Spring 2019 Stilling

Poetry has its roots in oral culture. Whether memorized, sung, or performed by bard, griot, or spoken word artist, and even when printed on the page, poetry has always maintained a profound connection to sound. With the widespread availability of digital platforms that make it possible to record and share video and audio, it has become possible to imagine a world in which poetry circulates again primarily through oral media and visual performance. Six hundred years after the arrival of the printing press, platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, and Spotify, and portable devices such as laptops and smart phones make it is possible to envision poetry returning to its oral roots, but in radical new ways. At the same time, however, platforms such as Instagram have lifted poetry off the page and allowed for new forms of visual expression. This course will take a bold step into the digital era by asking students to explore and help create a new poetic world beyond print. Through unique assignments involving memorization, recitation, performance, creative projects, and digital projects, this class will discover new critical and interpretive practices for considering poetry beyond the printed word. As we explore poetry from across the history of literature--including contemporary recreations of Homeric singing, the incorporation of medieval verse in film and on television, Hollywood celebrity readings of Shakespeare, early Victorian sounds recordings, modernist experiments by Pound, Yeats, and Eliot, BBC broadcasts of poetry in the Caribbean, audio archives of folk culture, and the development of hip hop and spoken word—we will consider how contemporary media help us reimagine conventional literary history and its received values. As not everyone has the privilege or access to partake in new digital media, we will consider how these media may shape the global circulation of poetry, both limiting and expanding its audience. While considering performance as an important aspect of poetic production, we will also develop the art of listening to poetry and consider new ways to become critical listeners, not just critical readers, of verse.